FMVs: FFVII vs. Compilation of FFVII

[paperclipchains]

This has been bugging me for a while now, so I had to write about it.

Comments

[tranquilmayhem]

I didn't even think of analyzing the difference between those scenes. Good job!

I have a feeling that if we did get a remake of FFVII, the whole game would be cut in general, not just the view of the sky and Midgar.

[paperclipchains]

Yeah, I agree with you. I think it would change a lot of things, not all of them obvious. Haha, I guess this essay is kind of alarmist, too?

[master_kogane]

Thank you, for doing this! Now I can finally explain why I like the original intro so much better than the remake.

[paperclipchains]

I'm glad to be of service.

[ahvia]

Out of curiosity, why did you choose to review the CC ending one? The PS3 tech demo is obviously the more faithful of the two remakes, watching the Crisis Core version makes me go "oh right, this is the beginning of Cloud's story where CC left off" while the ps3 tech demo makes me go "holy MOTHER OF GOD THIS IS IT, THIS IS FF7 and that is so how he would jump off the train oh god cloud you think you're so cool". The two were made with different points in mind, one following up the (of course male) protagonist's story, and one being to show how FF7 would look on the PS3. If (when!) they do remake it, they'll probably re-do it a third time. Until they do my heart will remain a-flutter every time I see the words PS3 and FFVII too close to each other. :(

[paperclipchains]

I don't actually think that the PS3 demo was more faithful - and either way, it suffers from a lot of the same problems, but it also has Cloud mugging rather ridiculously for the camera at the end. I picked the CC ending because:

1) It was made second.
2) Advent Children was already released, so they had more freedom to do with what they do.
3) It's higher quality.
4) I think it's closer to what we'll get if there is a remake.

[ahvia]

Really? The entire flow is different, and a lot, LOT closer to the original, including the focus on Midgar, the music crescendo, zoom in, and title, etc. The only parts that really look remade to me are after it cuts to Cloud on the train, so the Aerith issues you address were probably not reconsidered. If they'd actually remade the ENTIRE thing again, I would be pretty sad that they spent more time perfecting a super mean teaser with an even meaner tagline without announcing any real plans.
Otherwise, your observations on angle and focus regarding Aerith are good, and I do hope they fix the beginning to be more faithful for the re-re-remake.

[paperclipchains]

Well... I definitely wasn't trying to be disingenuious or anything. It just made more sense to me to pick the one that's more recent and that isn't basically a teaser-trailer for Advent Children, you know? I guess you probably gathered this already, but I hope they don't do a re-re-remake... Though, it seems inevitable, doesn't it?

[bofoddity]

Awesome analysis! The sense of intrigue is much stronger in the original opening, both with Aerith and Cloud and the world of the game. What I loved about Aerith so much in the first place was that she was an active woman in a conventionally passive role, and the original FMV does a good job of representing her as somebody who is doing things, even if it's subtle. We're interested in what she might be up to instead of thinking how nice it is to look at her. Same with Cloud; in the original game he leaps straight into action, and we don't get to see his mystery unravel until later. Here he's nice to look at (though personally my mileage varies), but doesn't really generate curiosity about what's up with him.

[paperclipchains]

I think it's interesting that presenting him so directly removes some of that mystery. I don't know. I feel like in both cases it's about playing up recognition more than anything.

Anyway, I'm glad you liked it.

[penumbra]

What I loved about Aerith so much in the first place was that she was an active woman in a conventionally passive role,

Yes -- this. They've been shifting her away from that portrayal in recent years, though: not just visually, but in the way she is utilised too. Part of what was so powerful about Aeris was that she subverted so many of the player's expectations of her based on archetype, but I think that in a remake of FF VII she would be shifted entirely into that more stereotypical characterisation.

[paperclipchains]

I think that FFVII ships all of the characters back into the stereotypes they were originally subverting. It's a damn shame.

[ardwynna_m]

I'm not particularly happy with the pandering to cleavage shot culture, but the new intro did give me a more positive feeling than the old one in some respects. Perception varies. In the old one, I didn't get the impression that Aeris was 'leading' me anywhere. The polygons aren't known for their range of facial expression (and neither are the new versions, but that at least had a touch of real world Japanese subtlety about it. ;p) Rather, the hands up across the chest position struck me as guarded, nervous, definitely wary. I kept looking because I wanted to know what she was afraid of and to make sure nothing happened to the poor girl. The second, with the smile, set me at ease. Here's a girl who's comfortable where she is and capable of going about her business. Suspense was rather moot with the new one for me because once I already know the story...

It makes more sense to me for the CC version in particular to focus on Cloud. It gave me a sense of Cloud picking up the gauntlet just as Zack had hoped he would.

[paperclipchains]

Hmm, yeah, I can see where you're coming from with that.

And yeah, I tried not to touch too much on that aspect of it. It's the end of the CC ending so I can see how they would want to show that he's picked up the gauntlet, but if it were an actual remake, I think there would be real problems with introducing Cloud as an extension of Zack.